Occupied since the Neolithic period, the site of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Vaucluse department really became urbanized in the Middle Ages. In the 13th century, doors were opened in the 12th-century ramparts that surrounded the city to allow access to the inner-city districts. In the middle of the 13th century, L'Isle was the second-largest conurbation of the Marquisate of Provence after Avignon. Its fame was linked to its textile industry supplied by the mills installed on the Sorgue river since the 11th century.